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Book Bag

  • Sick to near death

    Opera and deadly viruses would seem to be a strange combination on which to base a novel, but Eugenia Lovett West pulls it off in Overkill (288 pages, Minotaur Books, $25.99), her second mystery featuring retired diva Emma Streat.  Emma’s niece, Vanessa Metcalf, is in Venice for a recital when [...]
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    Posted: November 29, 2009, 8:04pm EST

  • Death comes for the undertaker

    Mysteries with a cooking angle have cropped up like corn in Iowa, and readers can endanger themselves by overindulging.  But the second entry in Laura Childs’ Cackleberry Club series, “Eggs Benedict Arnold” (336 pages, Berkley Prime Crime, $7.99) is another tasty treat. This time around, Suzanne Dietz and her [...]
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    Posted: November 29, 2009, 8:00pm EST

  • Village violence

    The English-village mystery has been dear to the hearts of fans for decades:  the vicar, the gardener, the retired colonel, the little old lady, the calm setting. Hannah Dennison’s Vicky Hill series is set in a British burg, but you might feel as if you’d stepped into the setting of [...]
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    Posted: November 29, 2009, 7:59pm EST

  • A lesson in tolerance

    Veteran author Ann Purser, the author of five books in the “Round Ringford” village series and of nine (so far) in her mystery series featuring Lois Meade, has long shown her skill in portraying ordinary life and providing enjoyment for her readers.  She has rarely gone into social issues but [...]
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    Posted: November 29, 2009, 7:58pm EST

  • Ain’t that peculiar?

    A headless corpse is found in a freezer, and a man dressed as a stag is cavorting through London’s St. Pancras area. Sounds like a case for Arthur Bryant and John May of the city’s Peculiar Crimes Unit.  But the unit has been suspended after treading too often on the [...]
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    Posted: November 29, 2009, 7:54pm EST

  • Murder can ruin your wedding

    The day their fans have waited for through seven mysteries is here:  Veterinarian Jessica Popper and lawyer Nick Burby are getting married. But only a few pages into Cynthia Baxter’s “Murder Had a Little Lamb” (367 pages, Bantam, $7.99), the eighth entry in her “Reigning Cats and Dogs” series, things [...]
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    Posted: November 16, 2009, 4:22am EST

  • The guest departs

    Uninvited guests can be a real pain, but when one gets herself killed ... That’s the problem facing Tricia Miles, owner of Haven’t Got a Clue mystery bookstore in Stoneham, N.H., in “Bookplate Special” (320 pages, Berkley Prime Crime, $7.99), the third entry in Lorna Barrett’s series. Tricia’s old college [...]
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    Posted: November 01, 2009, 11:37pm EST

  • A knight for hard days

    What a series of days for a former knight. Crispin Guest returns for a second outing in Jeri Westerson’s “Serpent in the Thorns” (273 pages, Minotaur Books, $24.99), and the story’s even more exciting than “Veil of Lies,” the first in the series. It’s 1384 in London, and Guest [...]
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    Posted: October 07, 2009, 9:24pm EDT

  • Something old, something new—and someone dead

    It’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding. It’s worse luck to kill her. And it’s not good at all for Agatha Raisin in “There Goes the Bride” (277 pages, Minotaur Books, $24.99), the 20th entry in M.C. Beaton’s series featuring the intrepid if infuriating private detective in [...]
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    Posted: October 05, 2009, 8:55pm EDT

  • Short and sweet

    The short story deserves a place on the endangered-species list, and the novella ... well, the novella may be nearing extinction. But don’t tell that to award-winning novelist Peter Robinson, whose series featuring Detective Inspector Alan Banks of the Yorkshire police has won acclaim and popularity. Now, in “The Price of [...]
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    Posted: October 04, 2009, 9:33pm EDT

  • Murder can be a drag

    The device is right out of Agatha Christie: The amateur sleuth gathers the suspects in the drawing room and unmasks the killer. But in Mehmet Murat Somer’s “The Gigolo Murder” (255 pages, Penguin, $14), the amateur sleuth is an unnamed computer hacker by day and drag-queen club owner by night, [...]
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    Posted: September 27, 2009, 12:55pm EDT

  • A mystery of her own

    Instead of “Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf?”, perhaps we should ask “Who was Virginia Woolf afraid of?”. It’s what the talented novelist Stephanie Barron does to dramatic and suspenseful effect in “The White Garden” (336 pages, Bantam, $15), an English period-piece mystery. And as she did in “A Flaw in [...]
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    Posted: September 27, 2009, 12:52pm EDT

  • Death, life and the blurred distinction

    If OCD stood for original chronic dread, Douglas Clegg would be its master. The talented author of the spooky tale returns, in time for Halloween, with a little gem: “Isis” (128 pages, Vanguard Press, $14.95), a dark and chilling tale of calling back the dead. Iris Villiers lives with her mother [...]
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    Posted: September 22, 2009, 11:54pm EDT

  • Sex, drugs, rock—and death

    Some authors dazzle with a debut novel, only to find themselves never able to replicate their first effort. Others start out with a fairly good effort and improve, and that is the case with “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (288 pages, Minotaur Books, $24.99), the second entry in Deborah Grabien’s [...]
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    Posted: September 16, 2009, 11:41pm EDT

  • Tomb and trouble

    Among its more notable inhabitants are writers Honore de Balzac, Marcel Proust, Gertrude Stein, Oscar Wilde and Richard Wright; singers Edith Piaf and Jim Morrison; composers George Bizet and Frederic Chopin; painters Rosa Bonheur and Camille Pissarro; actors Yves Montand and Simone Signoret; and even Confederate Secretary of State Judah [...]
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    Posted: September 16, 2009, 11:39pm EDT

  • Subterranean, my dear reader

    Roman Polanski’s distinguished and popular film “Chinatown” took an unlikely subject for its neo-noir mystery: the Los Angeles water system. In his debut novel, “The Baker Street Letters” (277 pages, Minotaur Books, $24.95), Michael Robertson doubles down, with L.A.’s subway network and a famous London address: 221b Baker Street. Lawyer [...]
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    Posted: September 12, 2009, 6:20pm EDT

  • Cats and crime, dogs and death

    Two gangsters have been murdered, and a hard-boiled cop and a smooth-talking cop are called in to investigate. If you think that sounds like any number of mysteries, you’d be wrong.  In Cornelius Kane’s “The Unscratchables” (259 pages, Scribner, $14), the victims are Rottweilers, the rough cop is a bull [...]
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    Posted: September 07, 2009, 11:14pm EDT

  • Old Virginia, new murders

    Blending a mystery of the past with one of the present is no small task, but Oklahoma writer Marion Moore Hill accomplished it with seeming ease in “Deadly Will,” her first entry in the “Deadly Past” series.  Published three years ago, the novel introduced readers to Millie Kirchner and provided [...]
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    Posted: September 05, 2009, 7:00pm EDT

  • Promise and peril

    The deathbed message is often poignant,  occasionally perilous.  And in the multitalented hands of Charles Todd, it’s profoundly powerful. Todd, a mother-and-son writing team, has produced 11 worthy entries in the Ian Rutledge series and one stand-alone novel.  Their latest, “A Duty to the Dead” (329 pages, Morrow, $24.99), begins [...]
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    Posted: August 25, 2009, 12:00am EDT

  • Stamped for success

    Mysteries that cater to special interests — beekeeping, bookselling, quilting and the like — have proliferated in the past several years.  And though they surely appeal to readers who share the particular passion, they must have a strong story line to find a wider audience. One such series that does [...]
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    Posted: August 02, 2009, 9:57pm EDT

  • Crime and penmanship

    Single male seeks single female.  Object:  matrimony. Or maybe murder. That’s the problem facing handwriting expert Claudia Rose in “Dead Write” (310 pages, Obsidian, $6.99), the third entry in Sheila Lowe’s series.  Claudia has been summoned to New York by exotic Baroness Grusha Olinetsky, who runs an elite dating service. [...]
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    Posted: August 02, 2009, 9:56pm EDT

  • Georgia murders on your mind

    She’s best-known for her Sookie Stackhouse, Southern Vampire series, but Charlaine Harris began her mystery career with a series featuring Aurora Teagarden, a feisty, single librarian in a small town in Georgia (fictional Lawrenceton) upon which Atlanta’s sprawl is encroaching. Long out of print, Berkley Prime Crime has now reprinted [...]
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    Posted: July 05, 2009, 9:48pm EDT

  • One smart story

    When last we left the intrepid actress Rita Farmer, she and her boyfriend, private detective George Rowe, had solved a major case, and she had given up acting and decided to go to law school. But bills must be paid — particularly those pesky law school ones — so Rita [...]
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    Posted: June 22, 2009, 2:00am EDT

  • A real dead man’s hand

    One spade.  Two diamonds.  Four spades. Four shots. Therein lies the basis for Gary M. Pomerantz’s fascinating “The Devil’s Tickets: A Night of Bridge, a Fatal Hand, and a New American Age” (300 pages, Crown, $26) — a true-crime story, sure, but much more. On Sunday morning, Sept. 29, [...]
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    Posted: June 06, 2009, 6:36pm EDT

  • Legal angels

    “Angels and ministers of grace defend us!” cried Hamlet when he saw his father’s ghost. And angels and ministers of grace are out to defend the living and the dead in “Angel’s Advocate” (304 pages, Berkley Prime Crime, $7.99), the second installment in Mary Stanton’s Beaufort & Company series. Brianna [...]
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    Posted: June 02, 2009, 6:51pm EDT

  • A husband, a wife—and a story of love and hate

    In the early 20th century, it wasn’t uncommon for a lonely man to advertise for a wife.  The tale of one such couple is the subject of Robert Goolrick’s richly imagined first novel, “A Reliable Wife” (306 pages, Algonquin, $23.95). In 1907, Ralph Truitt is the richest man in his [...]
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    Posted: May 27, 2009, 7:08pm EDT

  • A gossipy Kennedy bio

    Gossiping about the Kennedys has been an American pastime — and a guilty pleasure — for decades. And although it waxes and wanes, it shows little chance of ceasing. Fans of the pursuit will find plenty to enjoy in Edward Klein’s “Ted Kennedy: The Dream That Never Died” (272 [...]
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    Posted: May 23, 2009, 7:56pm EDT

  • Peril in Provincetown

    As Alfred Hitchcock proved time after time, tension and humor are not necessarily antithetical. As he did in his debut mystery, “High Season,” novelist Jon Loomis shines as brightly as the master in “Mating Season” (289 pages, Minotaur Books, $24.95). Homicide detective Frank Coffin left Baltimore after coming undone by [...]
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    Posted: May 16, 2009, 8:26pm EDT

  • Acing his first

    For a male author to create a believable female protagonist can be tricky, but K.J. Egan accomplishes the feat with finesse in “Where It Lies” (279 pages, Minotaur Books, $24.95). The first in a projected series, “Where It Lies” features fortyish Jenny Chase — former professor, single mom, assistant golf [...]
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    Posted: May 12, 2009, 7:32pm EDT

  • Danger and decadence in Berlin

    In 1931, with the Nazis on the rise and freedom about to collapse, Berlin was a decadent and dangerous place. And the city is as much a character in Rebecca Cantrell’s debut novel, “A Trace of Smoke” (300 pages, Forge, $24.95) as are her compelling characters. When crime reporter Hannah [...]
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    Posted: May 11, 2009, 7:03pm EDT

  • You’ve got to have heart

    For nearly 35 years, Mary Higgins Clark has been treating readers to page-turning suspense that frequently features what old-timers might call a damsel in distress. Having passed the age of 80, she’s not changing a successful formula, and the result is “Just Take My Heart” (322 pages, Simon & Schuster, [...]
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    Posted: April 07, 2009, 7:37pm EDT

  • Hilarity and horror

    Murder can be a riot, as many writers have shown in the humorous mystery.  But combining laughs with a legitimate puzzle is a far harder task, one at which far fewer succeed. But Dorothy Cannell has done so since she took a writing class as a lark that resulted in [...]
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    Posted: April 06, 2009, 11:30pm EDT

  • The residue of Camelot

    To stand as entertainment as well as education, the historical mystery must excel in three ways:  The plot must be compelling, the characters memorable and the era rendered correctly. Ariana Franklin completes all three missions in “Grave Goods” (336 pages, Putnam, $25.95), the third entry in her series set in [...]
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    Posted: April 04, 2009, 7:12pm EDT

  • The trials and triumphs of Teddy

    He’s one of those people you think will be around forever, so the news last spring that U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., had been diagnosed with an aggressive and malignant brain tumor shocked the world. Kennedy, whose life has been marked by recklessness and dedication, is the subject of [...]
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    Posted: March 23, 2009, 4:46pm EDT

  • Cornwall-set debut is a winner

    A new series is always a welcome treat for mystery fans, and when it’s set in an English village, all the better. Carola Dunn — the author of the long-running Daisy Dalrymple series — starts afresh in “Manna From Hades” (305 pages, Minotaur Books, $24.95), set in the fictional village [...]
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    Posted: March 15, 2009, 9:53pm EDT

  • A gripping mystery—with a social sensibility

    The Gothic suspense story has been a staple of fiction for years, but few authors have been able to raise it above its reputation.  One who does, however, is Britain’s Andrew Taylor, whose “Bleeding Heart Square” (432 pages, Hyperion, $25.99) spins a wonderful mystery, complete with shocking twists, and takes [...]
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    Posted: March 03, 2009, 6:15pm EST

  • Wild ride out West

    Entertainment may be the first job of a mystery writer, but it need not be the only one. Sandi Ault has proved that twice, and she does so again in “Wild Sorrow” (304 pages, Berkley Prime Crime, $24.95), the third installment featuring Bureau of Land Management agent Jamaica Wild. This [...]
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    Posted: March 03, 2009, 6:12pm EST

  • Where there’s a will, there’s a plot

    When Jack Fredrickson’s debut mystery, “A Safe Place for Dying,” was published in 2006, readers foresaw nothing but good things for him. And has he delivered.  “Honestly Dearest, You’re Dead” (320 pages, Minotaur Books, $24.95) finds hero Dek Elstrom, who lives in a working-class suburb of Chicago, learning that he [...]
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    Posted: February 03, 2009, 6:30pm EST

  • A professor of detection

    Professors are supposed to endowed with unlimited curiosity, and Alison Bergeron again takes that trait to perilous heights in “Quick Study” (304 pages, St. Martin’s Minotaur, $24.95), the third entry in Maggie Barbieri’s series. This time, Alison takes an interest in a Hispanic family that often dines at the [...]
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    Posted: December 14, 2008, 9:07pm EST

  • Perilous pubs

    Serial-killer tales are so prolific, it’s a wonder any potential victims are left.  But Christopher Fowler’s sixth novel about London’s Peculiar Crime Unit featuring elderly detectives Arthur Bryant and John May turns the cliché around. As “The Victoria Vanishes” (352 pages, Bantam, $24) opens, the PCU’s irascible pathologist, Oswald Finch, [...]
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    Posted: November 02, 2008, 9:21pm EST

  • A period piece of work

    For a historical mystery to be a success, an author must mind the four P’s. First, the plot must be engaging. Second, the place must be evoked with skill. Third, the period must be described accurately and in some deal. And fourth, the people must be plausible. Such is the [...]
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    Posted: August 18, 2008, 6:52pm EDT

  • A period piece of work

    For a historical mystery to be a success, an author must mind the four P’s. First, the plot must be engaging. Second, the place must be evoked with skill. Third, the period must be described accurately and in some deal. And fourth, the people must be plausible. Such is the [...]
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    Posted: August 18, 2008, 5:52pm EDT

  • Recalled to life

    Nobody knows crime — and how to write about it — like Edna Buchanan. The Pulitzer Prize winner, who covered the cop beat for The Miami Herald for 18 years, is a first-class reporter — and a first-rate novelist, too. “Legally Dead” (367 pages, Simon & Schuster, $26) finds Buchanan [...]
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    Posted: August 12, 2008, 6:28pm EDT

  • Recalled to life

    Nobody knows crime — and how to write about it — like Edna Buchanan. The Pulitzer Prize winner, who covered the cop beat for The Miami Herald for 18 years, is a first-class reporter — and a first-rate novelist, too. “Legally Dead” (367 pages, Simon & Schuster, $26) finds Buchanan [...]
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    Posted: August 12, 2008, 5:28pm EDT

  • A fiend in France

    For six novels featuring early-20th-century British detective Joe Sandilands, Barbara Cleverly has lived up to her name. And the seventh, “Folly du Jour” (288 pages, Soho Constable, $24.95) is no exception. This outing finds Sandilands, a commander at Scotland Yard, in Paris for an Interpol conference. Shortly after he arrives, [...]
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    Posted: August 11, 2008, 7:53pm EDT

  • A fiend in France

    For six novels featuring early-20th-century British detective Joe Sandilands, Barbara Cleverly has lived up to her name. And the seventh, “Folly du Jour” (288 pages, Soho Constable, $24.95) is no exception. This outing finds Sandilands, a commander at Scotland Yard, in Paris for an Interpol conference. Shortly after he arrives, [...]
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    Posted: August 11, 2008, 6:53pm EDT

  • Food and fear at the White House

    You’re a 5-foot-2 woman, an assistant chef at the White House, you’re returning from picking up a retirement gift for the departing executive chef, and you see an intruder scale the fence and head for the mansion. The Secret Service doesn’t seem to be able to catch the guy, so [...]
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    Posted: August 06, 2008, 5:20pm EDT

  • Food and fear at the White House

    You’re a 5-foot-2 woman, an assistant chef at the White House, you’re returning from picking up a retirement gift for the departing executive chef, and you see an intruder scale the fence and head for the mansion. The Secret Service doesn’t seem to be able to catch the guy, so [...]
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    Posted: August 06, 2008, 4:20pm EDT

  • The long reach of the Civil War

    The Southern gothic has a reputation as a cliché — and a particularly shopworn one at that — but few can deny the genre’s impetus toward page turning. Such is the case with Edward Wright’s “Damnation Falls” (352 pages, St. Martin’s Minotaur, $24.95), a heady concoction of journalism, the Civil [...]
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    Posted: August 05, 2008, 2:21am EDT

  • A student goes missing

    A murdered cat. A missing son. A widow in distress. Charles Finch, the author of last year’s “A Beautiful Blue Death,” now returns with “The September Society” (320 pages, St. Martin’s Minotaur, $24.95), another period piece that combines the sensibilities of Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy L. Sayers [...]
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    Posted: August 05, 2008, 2:20am EDT

  • The long reach of the Civil War

    The Southern gothic has a reputation as a cliché — and a particularly shopworn one at that — but few can deny the genre’s impetus toward page turning. Such is the case with Edward Wright’s “Damnation Falls” (352 pages, St. Martin’s Minotaur, $24.95), a heady concoction of journalism, the Civil [...]
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    Posted: August 05, 2008, 1:21am EDT

  • A student goes missing

    A murdered cat. A missing son. A widow in distress. Charles Finch, the author of last year’s “A Beautiful Blue Death,” now returns with “The September Society” (320 pages, St. Martin’s Minotaur, $24.95), another period piece that combines the sensibilities of Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy L. Sayers [...]
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    Posted: August 05, 2008, 1:20am EDT

  • Horsing around with murder

    Ann Purser completes a week with “Sorrow on Sunday” (272 pages, Berkley Prime Crime, $6.99), the seventh — but not last — book in her series featuring Lois Meade, who runs a housecleaning business in Long Farnden, England. As this entry begins, someone has stolen all the tack equipment from [...]
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    Posted: July 22, 2008, 5:30pm EDT

  • Horsing around with murder

    Ann Purser completes a week with “Sorrow on Sunday” (272 pages, Berkley Prime Crime, $6.99), the seventh — but not last — book in her series featuring Lois Meade, who runs a housecleaning business in Long Farnden, England. As this entry begins, someone has stolen all the tack equipment from [...]
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    Posted: July 22, 2008, 4:30pm EDT

  • Unsafe deposits

    There’s a story — possibly apocryphal — that the acerbic comedian W.C. Fields was so terrified of poverty that he stashed money under fake names in safe-deposit boxes around the globe.  When he died, the story goes, many of his secret stashes went undiscovered and unclaimed by his relatives. The [...]
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    Posted: July 01, 2008, 12:37am EDT

  • A band of angels

    Spirituality and murder may be strange companions, but Jackie Lynn makes the combination work in her faith-based series featuring Rose Franklin. In “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” the third entry, Rose and her friends at the Shady Grove campground in West Memphis, Ark., are trying to help a young woman from [...]
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    Posted: July 01, 2008, 12:36am EDT

  • Don’t abdicate on this one

    When Rhys Bowen introduced Lady Georgiana Rannoch in last year’s “Her Royal Spyness,” mystery fans and anglophiles knew they were in for a treat. The fun continues in “A Royal Pain” (320 pages, Berkley Prime Crime, $23.95), the second in the series featuring Georgie. This time, Queen Mary has assigned [...]
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    Posted: July 01, 2008, 12:35am EDT

  • Unsafe deposits

    There’s a story — possibly apocryphal — that the acerbic comedian W.C. Fields was so terrified of poverty that he stashed money under fake names in safe-deposit boxes around the globe.  When he died, the story goes, many of his secret stashes went undiscovered and unclaimed by his relatives. The [...]
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    Posted: June 30, 2008, 11:37pm EDT

  • A band of angels

    Spirituality and murder may be strange companions, but Jackie Lynn makes the combination work in her faith-based series featuring Rose Franklin. In “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” the third entry, Rose and her friends at the Shady Grove campground in West Memphis, Ark., are trying to help a young woman from [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: June 30, 2008, 11:36pm EDT

  • Don’t abdicate on this one

    When Rhys Bowen introduced Lady Georgiana Rannoch in last year’s “Her Royal Spyness,” mystery fans and anglophiles knew they were in for a treat. The fun continues in “A Royal Pain” (320 pages, Berkley Prime Crime, $23.95), the second in the series featuring Georgie. This time, Queen Mary has assigned [...]
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    Posted: June 30, 2008, 11:35pm EDT

  • Dont forget

    Its a pesky thing, traumatic amnesia. Its even worse when youre a cop, youve been shot, youve lost a day of memory and you cant tell your colleagues if the shooting was linked to the case you were investigating. Thats the premise of Cassandra Chans Trick of the Mind (338 [...]
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    Posted: May 13, 2008, 12:00am EDT

  • Don’t forget

    It’s a pesky thing, traumatic amnesia. It’s even worse when you’re a cop, you’ve been shot, you’ve lost a day of memory and you can’t tell your colleagues if the shooting was linked to the case you were investigating. That’s the premise of Cassandra Chan’s “Trick of the Mind” (338 [...]
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    Posted: May 13, 2008, 12:00am EDT

  • Don?t forget

    It?s a pesky thing, traumatic amnesia. It?s even worse when you?re a cop, you?ve been shot, you?ve lost a day of memory and you can?t tell your colleagues if the shooting was linked to the case you were investigating. That?s the premise of Cassandra Chan?s ?Trick of the Mind? (338 [...]
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    Posted: May 13, 2008, 12:00am EDT

  • Old times, new crimes

    Picture a nice, calm antiques business: plenty of beautiful and interesting old things, helpful folks, the grace of the past. Then throw in murder, and you have Jane K. Cleland’s well-crafted series featuring Josie Prescott, the owner of an antiques operation on New Hampshire’s coast.  In “Antiques to Die For” [...]
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    Posted: April 15, 2008, 5:15pm EDT

  • O brother, where art thou?

    Few storylines can complete with the missing-person plot to hold a reader’s attention.  And when the writer is the queen of suspense, Mary Higgins Clark, well ... “Where Are They Now?” (289 pages, Simon & Schuster, $25.95) begins 10 years after Charles “Mack” McKenzie Jr., a college student, disappears from [...]
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    Posted: April 08, 2008, 5:37pm EDT

  • Book em, Lorna

    Imagine, bibliophiles: a town filled with specialty bookstores.  Thats what the town fathers of Stoneham, N.H., have done to try to revive downtown, and Tricia Miles has taken the opportunity in Lorna Barretts Murder Is Binding (281 pages, Berkley Prime Crime, $6.99) to open a mystery shop, Havent Got a [...]
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    Posted: March 31, 2008, 5:27pm EDT

  • Book ‘em, Lorna

    Imagine, bibliophiles: a town filled with specialty bookstores.  That’s what the town fathers of Stoneham, N.H., have done to try to revive downtown, and Tricia Miles has taken the opportunity in Lorna Barrett’s “Murder Is Binding” (281 pages, Berkley Prime Crime, $6.99) to open a mystery shop, Haven’t Got a [...]
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    Posted: March 31, 2008, 5:27pm EDT

  • Book ?em, Lorna

    Imagine, bibliophiles: a town filled with specialty bookstores.  That?s what the town fathers of Stoneham, N.H., have done to try to revive downtown, and Tricia Miles has taken the opportunity in Lorna Barrett?s ?Murder Is Binding? (281 pages, Berkley Prime Crime, $6.99) to open a mystery shop, Haven?t Got a [...]
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    Posted: March 31, 2008, 5:27pm EDT

  • Old school ties

    “Ellie, the headmistress wants to see you.” Could any other words strike as much fear into a boarding school girl? But not to worry.  Ellie Haskell is 35, and her old headmistress needs her help.  Seems the Loverly Cup has gone missing from St. Roberta’s School, and wouldn’t it be [...]
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    Posted: March 31, 2008, 5:25pm EDT

  • The new West, and its still wild

    As a wildfire rages in the canyons of southern Colorado, Jamaica Wild, a young employee of the federal Bureau of Land Management, is searching for an elderly American Indian, Ned Spotted Cloud. When she finds his body, she also finds that the old man was universally reviled. And so goes [...]
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    Posted: February 05, 2008, 3:40am EST

  • The new West, and it’s still wild

    As a wildfire rages in the canyons of southern Colorado, Jamaica Wild, a young employee of the federal Bureau of Land Management, is searching for an elderly American Indian, Ned Spotted Cloud. When she finds his body, she also finds that the old man was universally reviled. And so goes [...]
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    Posted: February 05, 2008, 3:40am EST

  • The new West, and it?s still wild

    As a wildfire rages in the canyons of southern Colorado, Jamaica Wild, a young employee of the federal Bureau of Land Management, is searching for an elderly American Indian, Ned Spotted Cloud. When she finds his body, she also finds that the old man was universally reviled. And so goes [...]
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    Posted: February 05, 2008, 3:40am EST

  • The heart of the matter

    As timeless as the Hippocratic oath, as timely as the contemporary torture debate, Liam Durcan’s debut novel, “García’s Heart” (296 pages, Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press, $23.95), combines the two in memorable fashion. At the heart of the story is Dr. Patrick Lazerenko, a physician-turned-researcher-turned-businessman who heads a company [...]
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    Posted: December 25, 2007, 1:58am EST

  • Ripped from the headlines

    Few mystery writers know Washington as well as Margaret Truman — and why not? She lived in the White House when her father was president and visited the city often as the wife of New York Times journalist Clifton Daniel. And like her father, Truman isn’t shy about exposing Washington’s [...]
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    Posted: December 25, 2007, 1:57am EST

  • High tech and aristocrats

    Mysteries about strong women are nothing new, but Eugenia Lovett West provides a page turner of a twist in her first mystery, “Without Warning” (294 pages, St. Martin’s Minotaur, $24.95). Former opera star Emma Streat is living large in Connecticut:  Her husband, Lewis, is a big success in the world [...]
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    Posted: December 15, 2007, 6:02pm EST

  • Love and death

    Near his 50th birthday, London advertising man Ambrose Zephyr fails his annual physical and is given about a month to live.  Alphabet-obsessed since childhood, Ambrose is determined to put letters to each of his final days with his wife, Zappora “Zipper” Ashkenazi, a literary columnist for a fashion magazine. Such [...]
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    Posted: August 18, 2007, 6:54pm EDT

  • Death through the ages

    You know the joke: How many Richmonders does it take to change a light bulb? Five one to change the bulb, four to reminisce about the old one. When Richmonder J.B. Stanley began her antiques-themed mystery series two years ago, it was apparent that shed have a legion of [...]
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    Posted: August 06, 2007, 6:50pm EDT

  • Murder and spirituality

    Last years Down by the Riverside established author Jackie Lynn and protagonist Rose Franklin as folks to watch. The second entry in Lynns faith-based series, Jacobs Ladder (243 pages, St. Martins Minotaur, $24.95), cements that reputation. Rose, a nurse who has fled a failed marriage in Rocky Mount, N.C., for [...]
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    Posted: June 13, 2007, 4:46pm EDT
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